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The Effect of School Building Renovation / Construction on School Culture 1

The Effect of School Building Renovation / Construction on School Culture

Lee J. Lesisko Pleasant Valley School District (PA)

Robert J. Wright Widener University

Brenda O'Hern Widener University

Abstract School construction or renovation projects can have a profound affect on students, faculty and administration. The literature revealed that continuous communication is essential for a smooth process. This research identified bureaucratic issues and school climate to be leading factors of concern during construction projects. Analysis of this study indicated that female Principals experience more stress during construction projects, and building leaders regardless of gender who oversee a rural school facility experience more stress than their suburban counterparts. The more experience the Principal has the easier it is for him / her to deal with school climate issues and concerns. The researchers also found that increased staff recruiting was not significant. The majority of the building contractors did work with school officials to minimize disruptions to the day-to-day activities during school hours. However, many schools did not receive additional resources from the district office to help smooth the teaching and learning process during the project.

Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association April 30 ? May 4, 2010, Denver, Colorado Copyright ? 2010

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Introduction School construction / renovation has become a current topic in education. With aging school facilities, changes in building safety codes, over-crowded classrooms, and advances in technology, district officials are faced with the dilemma to either upgrade or invest in new construction in order to bring their facilities into the 21st Century. A study from the General Accounting Office (1995) explained that $113 billion is necessary to repair existing school buildings. Holloway (2000) reported that one in three American school facilities need extensive repair or replacement. In addition to securing funding for a building project, district officials must also be cognizant of how school culture will be affected during this process. There is a current upturn in construction projects following the passage of president Obama's initiative to fight the Great Recession of 2007-2009, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA (Pub. L. 111-5). As school projects begin, students, faculty and administration must adapt their schedules and daily routines because of construction disruptions. During this time, issues such as loss of telephone service, power, intercom, walkways, and lavatories may be unavailable for extended periods of time. In some cases, the cafeteria, gymnasium, pool, auditorium, and athletic fields may be off limits. This may cause parking to be at a premium because of the construction vehicles moving in and out of the worksite. The inconvenience of changing room assignments, scheduling, constant or irritating noise, loss of space, and even foul odors will certainly impact day-to-day activities and the instructional process. These factors can influence the culture of any school.

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Research Question School leaders across the United States will at some point need to consider updating the physical plant. Whether this be a renovation or new construction, it is inevitable that upgrades will be necessary. This study answers the following research question: What effect does facility construction / renovation have on school culture? In her book, Danielson (2006) explained that school culture is shaped by the behavior of the entire organization; from the Superintendent of Schools to the students and from the teachers to the parents. However, school personnel have a responsibility of creating a culture of academic success for all learners. In order to change the culture of a school, Villa and Thousand (2005) postulated that new heroes, rituals, symbols, and histories must replace the current structure. Depending on the situation, this process may take a very long period of time to implement.

Review of the Literature Filardo, Vincent, Sung, and Stein (2006) found a significant amount of school construction projects across the United States from 1995 through 2004. More specifically, they determined that 60% or $179 billion in construction funding was spent on additions or improvements to existing facilities and about 40% or $124 billion was earmarked for new construction. Research revealed from this study that 12,467 school systems across the United States built new facilities to meet enrollment growth demands or replaced buildings that were identified by school officials as being beyond repair. According to Schneider (2002) the requirements for teaching and learning are affected by the physical surroundings. In his research, the author reported that school facilities have a profound affect on student learning. These include, spatial configurations, noise level, temperature, proper lighting, and air quality that impacted on students' and teachers' ability to

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focus on academic achievement on a daily basis. Schneider also suggested that class size is directly related to improved academic achievement especially with students from lower socioeconomic groups.

A qualitative study by Dawson and Parker (1998) found that during the facility renovation, faculty morale was elevated because of the newness and upgrades to the building. Tuttle (2001) explained that social relationships among students have increased in a positive nature because of additional facility space. The author sited that the single most recurring positive theme found throughout the study was teamwork. The architects, construction management, contractors, students, staff, parents, and community members communicated on a regular basis which helped defuse potential problems and frustrations. Direct collaboration among the stakeholders allowed everyone in the loop throughout the process, to rally support for funding, encourage participation, maintain morale, instill ownership, and facilitate the understanding of the project.

Marzano, Walters, and McNulty (2005) asserted that collegiality and professionalism refer to a manner in which school staff interacts and the extent to which they approach their duties in a professional way. This concept was referred to as "school climate" in the 1970s.

Danielson (2006) explained that a school's culture affects how students treat each other, expectations they have for behavior, and the belief structure of school practices. She also pointed out that school culture is an important influence on how the institution operates and to the extent that it can achieve positive or negative results. A negative culture can promote cynicism, but a positive one inspires optimism. Bolman and Deal (1997) explained that cultural conflict can occur between individuals with different values, beliefs, and lifestyles.

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In her study, Cianca (2001) found that school renovations across New York State significantly increased between 1995 and 2000. At the same time school building principals were committed to assuming additional responsibilities in operations and were more accountable for meeting academic achievement goals. Cianca also explained that during a renovation, 10% of a Principal's time throughout the academic year must be spent on construction projects. Patently, this represents an added source of stress for building leaders.

A study by Ott (2001) found the top five building construction stressors by administrators were the presence of dirt in the building, increased noise levels due to construction, presence of fumes and odors, and temperature fluctuation throughout the facility. These stressors were directly related to environmental issues during construction. The author also reported the top three coping mechanisms were assistance with moving, appropriate administrative response to problems during the construction process, and appropriate administrative response to postconstruction issues.

Lapinsky (2007) reported in his study of occupational stress among career and technical education directors across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that the top stress related factor was dealing with changes in mandates and regulations from the state department of education. Other factors identified by chief school administrators as moderate to high stress levels included: imposing excessively high personal expectations, too heavy of a workload, and too many meetings and organizational appointments during building projects.

Methods Data for this study were gathered from an online questionnaire sent to select building principals across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during the months of June and September 2009. The Pennsylvania Department of Education provided the names of the school districts that

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were involved in a building project within the past five years. The school buildings included both elementary and secondary facilities. The Internet was used to obtain the electronic mail addresses of the current Principals in each building and a total of 943 school leaders were identified.

The questionnaire was specifically created for this investigation and a preliminary instrument was developed during the spring of 2009. In order to determine its validity, the questionnaire was piloted with the help of building principals in Monroe, Lehigh, Luzerne, and Northampton counties of Pennsylvania. This process was accomplished in order to determine if the items in the study were clearly understood and to gain relevant feedback regarding its content. Gail, Borg, and Gail (1996) explained that a pilot questionnaire should be conducted prior to distributing the final survey instrument. The pilot was sent electronically to 25 school leaders who were asked to complete the survey and to provide relevant feedback. Their responses allowed the researchers to develop a strategy for statistical analysis for this research project. As noted by Rea and Parker (1992) surveys are a widely used research method because they are perceived as a reflection of attitudes, preferences and opinions. Top building administrators were chosen for this study because they represent the instructional leadership for the school and would be most knowledgeable about the building project. These individuals have a stake in the teaching and learning process and would generally be concerned about the perceptions and feelings of students, faculty and staff in the building.

The final survey document consisted of 25 questions of a varied format including identification of the most current choice from the selection provided and ratings on a Likert-type scale. According to Huck (2000) a Likert-type scale is a measuring device used to determine a level of agreement or disagreement. Space was provided for the participants to write additional comments and / or reactions. Nine hundred forty-three building level principals were provided an

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electronic questionnaire in early June and 102 were returned in completed form. Another mass email was sent out in mid-September to the remaining 841 individuals identified in the sample and another 88 were returned. A total of 190 building principals completed and returned the survey. This represents a participation rate of 20.1%. Although a reasonable attempt was made to find the electronic mail address of each Principal via the Internet, only schools who listed a valid address on their website were chosen to participate in this study. Furthermore, no additional attempt was made to follow-up with non-responders. This option was foreclosed as there was no way to guarantee anonymity.

Results Of the 190 individuals participating in this study, 58% were male while 42% were female. Thirty-six percent of the respondents were between the ages of 36 and 45 and 33% were between 46 and 55 years of age. These returns are a good demographic match to the actual population of Pennsylvania's school principals. Almost 35% of the building principals have served in the position as instructional leader for less than five years and 25% of the survey takers have worked in education between 16 and 20 years. Over 46% of the principals in this study oversee a Kindergarten through grade six facility and 51% manage a student population of 301 to 600 on a daily basis. Factor analysis (principle component) found two clear factors in the Likert questions. First, data from questions 13 (personal stress level), 14 (collaborating with the department of education), 15 (state and federal mandates), 16 (increased workload), 17 (public approval and financial support), 18 (maintain quality instructional levels), and 19 (completing routine paperwork) were combined into one factor that the researchers labeled, "Bureaucratic Issues". A second factor labeled "School Climate" was comprised of questions 8 (overall student learning),

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9 (student discipline problems), 10 (staff morale), 11 (extra-curricular activities), and 12 (school

curriculum programs). Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics for these variables by gender for

school principals.

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics and Variables Used in Research

Variable

Bureaucratic Issues School Climate

Male 4.67 3.12

Mean Female 5.52 3.51

Male 2.07 1.81

SD Female 1.93 1.86

Using these two factor scores as dependant variables, studies of the assumptions of

homogeneity of variance using Levine's test for Equality of Variance were conducted for a test

of the equality of means using "t" tests. The School Climate factor was found to be within the

normal parameter. During a subsequent analysis no significant difference was noted for the

question of school climate and the gender of the school's principal (t = 1.41, df 188, n.s.). The

variable called Bureaucratic Issues was found not to meet the assumption of equality of

variances. Analysis was conducted by employing the Mann-Whitney procedure (U = 3,392, n1 =

110, n2 = 80, sig. ................
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